I live in the Northwest "Rainforest", I feel this greatly influences my mind and work. Welding, Quilting, Botanically inspired Art. Playing with textile paint, rust, vintage anything! I try to keep my art unique and close to the things I enjoy working with.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Pieces of History - Family Trees

This rusted cloth was the first I ever, made with a cheap piece of cotton from Jo-Anns, it even had a hole in it , but I just wanted to try some rust-dying, so I used what I had on hand at the time.Well I have been trying to recreate this type of patterning on "good" fabric ever since, I have gotten some other cool prints but nothing similar. Lesson here don't use Junk when trying a new technique, because it might be the one you like the best.

I see a tree in this, a big old knarlly river willow, leanin' over the banks of the Big Elk River.

I have been hanging on to this for a couple of years trying to decide how to implement my vision, I played with some computer doodling when I first took these pictures; to get a better vision of my tree, and to see which side of the cloth I want to use. You always get design on both sides with rust-dyeing.

So every leaf will have a photo transfer from one of my family photos. I have had fun trying different transfers for all the leafs. I am thinking either hand stiching the tree outline with some heavy hand-dyed threads I bought a while back from Artfabrik , or machine "thread-sketching I have a few different sizes, some I can run throught my machine and some I can not. I think the heavier the thread the better it will help to define the tree, but I have never really handstiched anything.

I had the idea that I needed to mark or outline my cloth to get have a better visual, I have no non-perment marking tools at the moment, so what to do... Light bulb moment! freezer paper, iron on and hang on the window and draw all you want . I had a new idea should I cut out the tree and applique onto a different background fabric, or would I lose the effect of the whole cloth printing? More desicions...

Calender of Events

A little insight

I have been working with recycled metal for a little over ten years. I seek out, not new, but old industrial castoffs such as farm tools and antique tractor parts. These pieces, that are featured in my work, hold the history of our farming and logging communities from rural Oregon. I have family roots in these fields, so by using parts from old tractors brings a feeling of connection to my family’s history. I feel it is my duty to save these special parts from being melted down for “scrap metal”. It makes me cringe every time I see a truck loaded down with metal, headed for the scrap yard. I just have to wonder what great parts I am missing out on!Reuse first - Recycle Second

Kathi Borrego, Harlan Oregon

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About Me

Recycled Metal Artist and Art Quilter,
I Love the old,rustic,(and rusty). My love of the outdoors hopefully shows through my work. My biggest problem is trying to split my time between Quilting and Welding.